Early in the game on Monday night it looked like the Chesnee softball team was in for a repeat performance against Woodruff, that saw them win a close 1-0 game, but an eight run sixth inning allowed the Eagles to come away with an impressive 9-3 road victory over the Wolverines.
"I told the girls I was proud of them how they battled back tonight," said Chesnee head coach Tripp Fogle. "We had a game at Union earlier this year that was similar to tonight and we were able to bounce back to win that game as well. We had some great at-bats early but Woodruff made some great defensive plays and gave us their best shot early. We were able to string some things together their late to get the win and I couldn't be prouder of the girls." In the top of the first inning Chesnee wasn't able to get anything going at the plate and the Wolverines tried to take advantage early as they loaded the bases with one out in the inning. With the bases loaded Chesnee catcher Hannah Henderson made a great catch on a foul ball behind the plate, as she caught the ball over her left shoulder facing away from the playing field keeping all the Wolverines runners in place. Eagles starting pitcher Sam Carver then induced a fly ball to left field ending the Woodruff rally in the bottom of the first inning without a run crossing home plate. Both teams went scoreless over the first three innings of the game as Carver struck out four different Wolverine batters while Woodruff also made some great defensive plays including an amazing catch by centerfielder Natalie Montjoy as she reached over the outfield wall to take away a homerun away from Paige Scruggs in the third inning, Chesnee started the fourth inning with a single to left field off the bat of Shenandoah Bishop who advanced to second on a Woodruff error. On the next pitch Bishop stole third base putting the Eagles sixty feet away from their first run of the game. Mattie Martin followed Bishop with a walk and after reaching base she stole second base. As Martin stole second base the Woodruff throw to second base got knocked away allowing Bishop to score from third base and giving the Eagles a 1-0 lead. In the bottom half of the fourth inning Woodruff attempted to tie the game back up getting a runner to second base with two outs but an impressive shoestring catch by Bishop in centerfield preserved the Eagles lead. The catch by Henderson in the first inning and Bishop in the fourth inning helped the Eagles keep their early lead and Fogle said impressive defensive plays by those two players wasn't a shock to him. "Hannah and Shenandoah, those two specifically take their defense very seriously," said Fogle. "I may be a little bias but if there's two better in the state I'd like to see them. I'm just proud of them and never surprised by the plays they make." Woodruff finally got on the board in the bottom of the fifth inning as they took a 3-1 lead off the bat of Brooke Bailey. Regan Key started the Wolverines rally with a single to centerfield and advanced to second base on an infield single by Madie Montjoy. With two runners on, Bailey came to the plate hitting a homerun to right centerfield and giving the Wolverines their first lead of the game. Chesnee pitcher Sam Carver bounced back after the homerun striking out the next Wolverines batter while Hannah Henderson made another amazing catch on a foul ball for the final out to keep the Woodruff lead at two runs. The Eagles wasted no time bouncing back as they scored eight runs in the top of the sixth inning to retake the lead over the Wolverines. Carver started the inning with a single to left field and advanced to second on an infield single by Maddie Handy. With two runners on, Shenandoah Bishop hit a double to left centerfield to score Carver putting the Woodruff lead at 3-2. Mattie Martin followed Bishop with a double to left field to score Handy tying the game at 3-3 with runners still at second and third bases. Henderson worked a walk on the next at-bat to load the bases for the Eagles before Kyleigh Thompson gave the Eagles a 5-3 lead on a double to centerfield scoring both Bishop and Martin. Eva Vaca, who came on to pinch hit in the fifth inning, followed Thompson with a single to centerfield scoring Henderson and pushing the Eagles lead to 6-3 over the Wolverines. Vaca, a senior for the Eagles, said she wasn't surprised by the Eagles rally because they went into the inning with the mindset they weren't going to lose. "We weren't going to allow them to beat us," said Vaca. "We knew they were up but we also knew that with the girls that we have we could come back stronger and it was our game to win." After Vaca reached base, Thompson came in to score on a wild pitch before Vaca scored herself on a sacrifice fly to right field by Paige Scruggs to push the Chesnee lead to 8-3 over Woodruff. Ali Scruggs followed Paige Scruggs with a double to left field before later coming around to score on a groundout to shortstop by Sam Carver, who started the rally for Eagles earlier in the inning. In the sixth inning every Eagles batter that came to the plate either scored a run or came away with a RBI in the inning, with some doing both. Chesnee allowed only one Wolverines batter to reach base over the final two innings of the game as Sam Carver pitched all seven innings for the Eagles on Monday night. Carver struck out five batters and outside of two innings didn't allow a Woodruff batter to get farther than second base. "All of Sam's stuff was working well early she just happened to leave one over the plate against Brooke Bailey, who is a very good hitter and sometimes that happens," said Fogle. "She didn't flinch after the homer though and got the final two outs of that inning and finished the game out strong. She done a great job and I'm just really proud of her." Chesnee will return to the field on Friday when they travel to face fellow district school Boiling Springs in the third matchup between the schools this season. Comments are closed.
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